Why business is more about jobs and wealth
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Business has a wider remit than jobs and wealth
creation.
That's the belief of Chatham-born Jane Ollis, the new chief
executive of Business Support Kent Community Interest Company
(BSK-CIC) who took over from Bob Jones when he axed his own job in
a cost-saving move.
Ollis, who worked for a utility company in Australia and has
been a NASA intern, is evangelistic about the power of business to
do good, contrary to much of the adverse publicity that often
attaches to the private sector.
It's important to help create jobs and get companies paying
corporation tax, but it goes beyond that.
"We are a community interest company with a bigger social goal
and believe in the power of business to solve the big nutty
problems facing us."
Ollis, one of a triumvirate of women running Rochester-based BSK
with Erica Russell and Max Adam, cites an ageing population,
climate change, resource scarcity and security issues that should
concern business.
Ollis campaigns for Contemporary Business, a slogan that
embraces social concerns allied to ambition. "How can Kent
businesses play a part in generating new products and services that
respond to the challenges of the future? How do we sell ambition,
how do we help every Kent company get ambitious?"
BSK, which commissions the Kent 2020 Vision show and advises
firms about innovation and growth, has had a tough year. Funding
has been a challenge, prompting Jones's departure.
But she says things have improved. She wants to "sell" the Kent
2020 Vision concept to other counties and use BSK expertise to put
funding bids together for others.
Monday, January 09 2012
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